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Exact URL Match For Ranking

Has anyone else run into this issue? I have a competitor that purchases domain names for popular inner pages we are trying to rank for. We are trying to build a brand, our competitors have a lower domain authority but rank higher for inner pages in the serps with VERY little content, backlinks/seo work, they host a single page and do a re-direct to their main site. Would this be a good long term strategy?

EX. We sell golf clubs our brand name is golfcity (Ex only) and we carry callaway clubs, our competitor is also building a brand but they purchased callawayclubs.net and do a re-direct. They rank on page one for keywords callaway clubs. If I do try to do this does one have an advantage over another? .com. net .org. because Ive seem them all used and rank on page 1.

2 Responses

This is a tactic that has long been used by many SEO experts around the world. This is known as a network. There are many ways to use the network, however not all of them are ethical. I think that you should sit back and think about how ethical it is and if you still want to do it.

If you still want to do it, I don't recommend redirecting the site to yours. I recommend hosting the site on a different host, different ip, and different who is info. After that, make a site that looks good, put 5 or so articles/pages on it and then on the front page somewhere near the bottom place your anchor text with your keyword in it, but not the footer, because it will go on every page.

Make sure that all domains have high authority and stats according to the SEOMOZ siteexplorer. There are other stats you can look at, but this is a great start for you. I personally buy pr3 + domains with 40 + domain authority if I do something like this. There are tools on the market to help you buy domains like this on the godaddy auctions for about $20 per domain. If your keyword is competitive you should build about 2 - 10 per week pending on how competitive your keywords are per week to make it look natural until your keyword is ranked up. Make sure that you are also using other SEO tactics so all of your backlinks aren't just a network. Use anchor text diversity, platform diversity, and ip diversity and you will be good. Don't use the same templates btw or platforms.

Your site will probably get caught eventually and will last about 3 - 9 months. So the question is, is it worth it to you? Will you make a profit by using these tactics for a short period of time you will be ranked on top?

Also, yes the exact match domains can help to a certain extent. Matt Cutts has announced though that they have decreased how much. However, I can still verify that they do help more than a normal domain for the exact terms.

As for using your network as sniper sites, sure that can work to and you can redirect people to your site. I have found though that using the small sites for both ranking purposes of ranking your site and sending traffic through some type of form is the best method.

It's certainly true that EMDs can still have an impact (it's declining, but they still matter), but it's rare for a brand new domain that's redirected to rank well, because there's nothing to redirect. You can't redirect the name itself, just the strength of the link profile. I suspect they may be doing something a bit more elaborate behind the scenes. They could be redirecting older, more powerful sites, or they could have a link network set up, as Matthew said.

Long-term, though, it will eventually burn out. It's frustrating, because these tactics can work for a while, but Google is definitely taking a dimmer view of them over time, and it's a risky play.

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